Bill Stokes graduated from the Pennsylvania State University in 1974 with a B.S. in Business Administration. He attended the Dickinson School of Law in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, where he received a J.D. in 1982. While at Dickinson, he was elected to membership in the School's Corpus Juris Society, and was employed as a legal intern for the Majority Legal Staff of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives. Since graduation, he has practiced law in Wellsboro.

Bill was Assistant District Attorney of Tioga County for ten years. He is a member of the Tioga County and Pennsylvania Bar Associations, and is past President of the Tioga County Bar Association. Bill’s current areas of focus are real estate transactions and litigation, civil litigation, domestic law, criminal law, workers' compensation, personal injury, oil and gas law, creation of LLCs, and wills and estates.